Amidst all of the negative publicity following the revelations about him staring drinking again, Paul Merson decided to revert to the 4 5 1 away formation at the County Ground this afternoon, for the first time since the victory at Bristol City and the narrow defeat at Luton, in an attempt to gain the points needed to make the Saddlers safe from relegation fears.

Merson dropped himself, Leitao and the injured Emblen and went for a much more solid look, with a midfield of Wrack, Osborn, Standing, Surman and Wright and Joachim as the lone striker. Wrack and Wright continually swopped wings during the first half.

The move was rewarded with what was only the Saddlers third away win of the season (and first double), with a first half goal from Joachim (set up by Wright) and another in second half injury time from Mark Wright (set up by Joachim), sandwiching a Sam Parkin penalty.

The Saddlers put up a battling and efficient performance, but were still thankful for a first half goal-line clearance from Pead and Swindon hitting the woodwork twice. Walsall themselves, however, had two decent chances missed by Leitao, who had come on for Standing, when the team reverted to a 4 4 2, and Wright, just before he got the winner.

General opinion on the message board from those who went (and Merson) was that Simon Osborn was the Man of the Match.